grievances against george iii. we have grievances and we vote them, but that's democracy. i wouldn't worry about that. >> larry: you thinking about the next book already? i know you are. no? you're not? >> not this moment. >> larry: bob woodward, he's a one of a kind. the latest is "obama's wars." kathleen parker, eliot spitzer are here tomorrow. jenny mccarthy on friday. right now, "ac 360" with some incredible stories, here's anderson cooper. larry, thanks and thanks for watching everyone. tonight keeping them honest, the law enforcement official, an assistant attorney general targeting a college student in his spare time, singling out for a campaign of vitriol and online attacks. new developments tonight and the same question people keep asking us, why hasn't his boss fired him? we'll put that question to his boss, the attorney general of michigan. and a campaign ad re-enacting a senator's alleged visit with a prostitute. is it fair?

is it true? and later a rare sitdown with michael j. fox, his battle with parkinson's, what his days look like and what the future looks like in the battle against this killer disease. keeping this honest, new developments in one of the oddest stories we have reported on in a long, long time. new calms tonight for an assistant attorney general of michigan to be fired. in a moment we're going to talk with his boss, the attorney general of michigan, to find out if he will be. let's first get you up to speed. the man we're talking about is andrew shirvell, assistant attorney general of michigan. for months in his private time he's been fixated on a young gay college student named chris armstrong. that's mr. armstrong. he's the first openly gay student body president at the university of michigan. so why does andrew shirvell care about chris armstrong? that's a very good question. and to be honest i'm not really sure. but he does care an awful lot about this student who he says has a radical homosexual agenda.

shirvell has made a blog attacking armstrong. this posting has a picture of armstrong, the word "resign" scrawled on his face, a rainbow flag with a swastika right in the center of it. months of postings like this, by mr. shirvell, page after page, unproven allegations, smears. he calls the kmenlg student a nazi-like recruiter for the cult that is homosexuality, he calms him a privileged pervert and satan's representative on the student assembly. that's a quote. he has appeared outside armstrong's home videotaping the home at night. mr. shirvell says he's got the right to speak his mind. the question is, though, by targeting this student and his friends, has this public official gone too far? you can judge for yourself. we had him on the program last night. here's some of what he said. >> i've got to ask you, you're a state official. this is a college student. what are you doing? >> well, anderson, basically if

you've been involved in political campaigns before, you know all sorts of stuff happens. and this is just another tactic bringing awareness to what chris really stands for. >> this is not some national figure, this is a guy who's running a student council. >> well, anderson, as a private citizen and as a university of michigan alum, i care, because this is my university. and i wasn't the only first person to criticize chris. in fact, long before i started the blog a couple of weeks before that, the alliance defense fund, a well-known legal christian foundation, put out an alert about chris. so i'm not the only person that has criticized chris, and i'm not the first person to criticize chris. >> but are you the only person running this blog, which is putting nazi swastikas on this guy. you're a grown adult. does that seem appropriate to you?

>> like i said, this is a political campaign. this is nothing personal against chris. i don't know -- >> what do you mean it's nothing personal? you're outside his house, you're videotaping his house, you're shouting him down at public events, you're calling him satan's representative on the student council, you're attacking his parents, his friends' parents, i mean you can't say it's not personal. >> well, chris and any political campaign, you have to raise awareness and issues, and that's one way of doing it is by protesting. >> so that was some of our conversation last night. i should point out mr. shirvell is not involved in a political campaign, not running for anything, nor is mr. armstrong. he's already elected student body president. here's more from the interview last night. >> it appears you're obsessed with this young gay man. i've read all your blog postings. you're like perusing his facebook, his friends' facebook pages, you're making completely unwarranted accusations, unproven accusations, based on what you're gleaning from his facebook pages. >> excuse me, anderson, who said

they were unwarranted and not true? chris has not come out and denied anything. there's a reason why he isn't givingibilitier views and that's because he can't defend what's on the blog. i stand by what's on the blog, i've gotten stuff from other -- >> you stand by that he's satan's representative on the student council? you stand by that? >> well, excuse me, anderson, that isn't on the blog, that's taken from another posting somewhere on the internet i may have put out -- >> so you don't stand by that? >> that's my opinion, i do stand by that. >> okay, you stand by it. >> today the democrat running to replace michigan's departing attorney general, his boss, cited that interview and is now calling his republican opponent to join him in demanding that shirvell be fired. earlier this evening i spoke with a man who would do the firing but for now says he won't. i spoke to michigan attorney general mike cox. we've received a ton of e-mail from people asking us why andrew

shirvell still has a job as assistant attorney general in your office. and free speech is critical, but' pears to be targeting a college student. i know you've said this guy's views don't reflect your views or those of your office, but why is he still employed? >> well, for a number of reasons. here in america we have this thing called the first amendment, which allows people to express what they think, and engage in political and social speech. and more on point, the supreme court, both the united states supreme court in 1995 in a case called the u.s. versus treasury employees said that civil service employees in the federal system and by extension in the state system, have free -- first amendment rights outside of the work as long as it doesn't impact their performance at their job. and mr. shirvell is sort of a front line grunt assistant

prosecution in my office. he does satisfactory work. and off hours he's free to engage under our civil service rules, michigan supreme court rulings and the united states supreme court rule. interestingly enough by justice stevens wrote the opinion to engage in free speech. >> aren't you empowered by the state civil rules to discipline him for conduct unbecoming of a state employee? do you think his actions are unbecoming of a state employee? >> his actions are offensive. but you know, conduct unbecoming is one of those empty vessel statements. what it mean has never really been fleshed out. >> do you think this is unbec e unbecoming? >> certainly it's unbecoming of civil discourse, it's unbecoming of common courtesy, and quite frankly, i feel embarrassed for mr. armstrong, you know, that he has this unwanted attention.

but again, anderson, this is speech put on a blog. now, if there's conduct that's verified -- for instance, if a personal protection order was sought by mr. armstrong and granted in the michigan civil service or disciplinary code we could start looking at things in terms of perhaps sending to an employee assistance program. >> so if there was a restraining order or something filed or there was a lawsuit by mr. armstrong by mr. shirvell you might look at this differently or that might change your ability to do something. >> absolutely. you know, it's -- there's a spectrum between pure speech and actual physical actions. now, clearly if he was stalking him and violating the criminal law, action could be taken against him. >> but i was reading this supreme court case, and the court said, and i quote,

government agencies are charged by law with doing particular tasks. agencies hire employees to help do those tasks as effectively and efficiently as possible. when someone is paid a salary so she will contribute to the agency's operation begins to do or say thing that's detract from the agency's effective operation, the government employer must have power to restrain her. isn't shirvell detracting from your operation? why would a gay person feel confident that he or she would be represented by this man as an attorney or frankly, you know, they would start to have perhaps doubt about your office's ability to do that. >> well, i think that's quite a stretch. first and foremost, mr. shirvell, his job is he helps preserve state criminal convictions when they're challenged in federal court. he does that well from 8:30 to 5:00 very well. him blogging, it's not impacting the mission of the office. >> you've made internet safety one of the main initiatives of your department.

>> right. >> they found this pam flit that the state of michigan uses to define a cyberbully, they say the type of content of cyberbullying may send includes the following, vulgar and argumentative message, cruel, offensive and insulting remarks. under that definition, is andrew shirvell a cyberbully? >> well, that's a pamphlet by a dient erency and i'm gl you brought it. we've educated a half million kids on how to protect themselves from predators and also bullies on the internet. now, that being said, there isn't a crime of cyberbullying in michigan law. and the reality is -- >> i'm not asking whether it's a crime or not, i know in michigan there is no cyberbullying law yet, but do you think he is a cyberbully? >> he's clearly a bully. absolutely. is he using the internet to be a bully? yes. but is that protected under the first amendment of the united states constitution?

yes. >> jeffrey toobin last night on this program, cnn legal analyst, said that this is more about you than about shirvell. and he said that shirvell is a political ally of yours who worked on your campaign and that, you know, you campaigned on family values and weren't very supportive of, you know, gay rights, and to fire him would be political difficult for you and that plays a part in the story. i wanted you to be able to respond to that. >> well, you know, mr. toobin reminds me of the old joke, i'm not a lawyer but i play one on tv. because he clearly didn't read any of the supreme court case that i cited for it. >> he's a former federal prosecutor but you're saying politics has nothing to do with it? >> that doesn't mean anything, anderson. he's not in the ring every day practicing law. he's spending time on cnn. and it's a pretty good gig, i wish i had it. but the reality is i'm out of office in three months. i have a duty to defend the michigan constitution. i have a duty to defend the

michigan civil service rules. even at those times when i don't like it. i mean, part of my job as attorney general is to stand up and defend the first amendment. even when that protects offensive people and people who are saying things i don't like. >> attorney general mike cox, i appreciate you being on. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. so the question for us to consider is is this a free speech issue or should a public official be held to a different standard? let's bring in senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and jonathan turley. jeff, first, i want to give you an opportunity to respond to what the attorney general said, either the personal part or about his legal argument. >> i'm sorry he's not a fan, but the point is the united states supreme court has dealt with this issue in many different ways over many years. the public employee, the free speech rights of public employees is a longstanding subject before the supreme court. the most recent case, 2006, involves a deputy district attorney in los angeles who was

fired and the supreme court upheld his firing. it's not an identical case but if you look at the range of these cases, clearly the direction the court is moving is towards less and less free speech protection for stuff that is a heck of a lot less offensive than the stuff -- >> let me challenge you on that a little bit because i'm certainly not a lawyer, but what i've just read from the supreme court is if the public official is talking about something of public concern, which i guess you could argue, you know, this guy's political beliefs are a public concern, he's sort of a public official maybe because he's on a student council, he ran for student council president, is it therefore protected because it's sort of in the general public concern. >> that's right. that's -- it's what the supreme court folks would call a two-part test. the first part of the test is, is it a matter of public concern? and i think you could definitely say that what shirvell was talking about, gay rights, is a matter of public concern. but there's a second part of the test which is, does it interfere

with his work. and as you pointed out in your interview with mike cox, how would you feel sitting there as a gay person or someone who respects gay rights, which includes a lot of people who aren't gay, and see this guy representing the state of michigan? because he's not a private lawyer. he is up there representing the entire state of michigan. and i think many people in the employer position, in mike cox's position, would say of course he can't represent the state of michigan because people who express those kind of hateful sentiments are not representative of my office or of the state. >> professor turley, what do you make of this? you're a big defender of the first amendment. >> well, first of all, i think that jeff is right about the trend that there certainly is more and more upheld restrictions on the free speech of public employees. on my blog i've actually detailed a lot of these cases involving police officers, teachers, a great variety of public employees.

in fairness to mr. cox, there is a legitimate free speech issue here. that trend has been denounced by many people, including myself, that public employees should be allowed in their private time to espouse their views, to have -- there's many of these cases where the actual employee has an alternative lifestyle that is views as unpopular or unacceptable and are disciplined for that. what makes this case i think a much closer issue even for free speech advocates is that have you an assistant attorney general saying i'm doing a political campaign. but the campaign's not even an anti-homosexual campaign, it's more of a campaign against this individual. and where he crossed the line, seems to be when he stands outside the person's house. that comes very, very close to stalking. there could be civil liability here. and i think that that moves this away from free speech into conduct. and that does -- that is a

legitimate basis for discipline. >> we just put up a picture at another event, not from outside his house, but on shirvell's blog there's videotape outside he took shirvell's home. so that's not a picture outside shirvell's home, as i know, but there's video from outside the home on the blog. >> the issue here, particularly for free speech advocates, they don't particularly like this trend, that jeff has correctly i think articulated. it's a trend that is cracking down on free speech and denying public employees the opportunity to have the full range of free speech. this case i think is a bit of an anomaly because you have someone who's going out there and leading a campaign that's quite hateful and quite unhinged. >> it's also not just against this college student, it's against his friends tracking his friends' facebook comments and going after the guy's father and a mother of a friend of his. i mean, it seems rather

obsessive. >> i think it is. i mean, this is what -- i think many of us have had a sense of pause when we saw that interview. and you wouldn't call him a barking lunatic but he certainly comes across as somebody who is obsessive. and that's not healthy for the institution that he represents, or for the individual that he is. but i do think that he may have crossed the line here. i think the only reservation i would put here is that what mr. cox articulated, whatever his motivations may be, and i'm willing to accept his motivations are to defend free speech, there is a legitimate question here. there is a dangerous trend here. and unfortunately this may be a case of bad case making bad law, in that it could magnify that trend a bit. but he's going to -- his conduct makes it mor difficult for him to cloak himself entirely in the first amendment. >> jeff, this is now getting wrapped up in politics in michigan, the democratic candidate to be the next assistant -- to be the next attorney general has called on

his republican opponent to call for this guy to be fired. do you think -- you still think politics are involved, though, in the attorney general's decision not to let this guy go? >> right, because i think at the end of the day this is really a question about discretion. this is a question that's -- that raises the issue of, what does the attorney general of michigan think is relevant to the conduct of his employees? is he someone who thinks that someone who behaves like shirvell is behaving can represent everyone. and you know, i think if shirvell got fired he would lose a lawsuit. now that may be a good thing or a bad thing but he would lose a lawsuit to get his job back. so i think this is really up to mike cox. could he, is he willing to fire him or not, and he chooses not to fire him and people can draw their own conclusions about whether that's a good thing or bad thing. the thing ip don't object to that mike cox is saying is that somehow the law compels him not to fire him. i think this is a choice he's

making, not a -- something he's compelled to do by the law. >> interesting discussion. jeff toobin, jonathan turley, appreciate your expertise. thank you very much. let us know what you think, the live chat up and running right now. up next tonight we put a racy attack ad to the test. is the re-enactment of a senator's alleged visit to a prostitute fact or fiction? is it fair? and another accuser saying bishop eddie long abused him. >> it's going to happen, and i just pray, i just want people to know to keep praying. our points from chase sapphire preferred

are worth 25% more on travel. we're like forget florida, we're going on a safari. so we're on the serengeti, and seth finds a really big bone. we're talking huge. they dig it up, put it in the natural history museum and we get to name it. sethasauraus. really. your points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel? means better vacations. that's incredible. believe it...with chase sapphire preferred your points are worth 25% more on travel when booked through ultimate rewards. the power and versatility of six tools packed into one. more innovation. more great values. craftsman. i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy. ♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪

grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you ♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do

we've been examining some of the political ads running this campaign season. the other night you might remember we pointed out what was incorrect and misleading one by a florida democratic congressman, one by a republican congressman. this one is by charlie meloncon, it includes a re-enact many of an alleged visit with a prostitute. tom foreman has been looking at it perhaps in a dark room somewhere and joins us now keeping them honest. >> reporter: when a candidate says his latest commercial will air only during age appropriate hours you know you're in for

something special and charlie meloncondoes not disappoint with his attack on republican senator david vitter. maybe you forgot vitter was caught up in a prostitution scandal or that he stood by his wife in this very uncomfortable news conference in 2007 and apologized for a very serious sin. but representative meloncon wants to make sure you remember. >> caught up with prostitution scandals in washington, d.c. and new orleans, a louisiana politician has been let off the hook. today we explore the case of the senator and the madam in lawmaker, law breaker. >> reporter: this is a rarity in political ads. not only is it tresed up to look like one of these true crime shows out there but it's also two minutes long. complete, anderson, as you mentioned, with a re-enactment. take a look. >> david vitter won election to the united states senate as a

proud family values politician. but under the surface, vitter was battling his own demons. >> things turned public for vitter when his number appeared on the d.c. madams phone list. >> but it didn't end there. the scene shifts to new orleans where a former french quarter prostitute gave an irnter view exposing details about her sexual relationship with vitter. >> he went in, took a shower, spoke very little to me at first. he did his thing. he wasn't there, 15, 20 minutes at that. it was $300. >> this is a little ad. the interview and some of those images, by the way, at the end there appear to be by a production from hustler magazine's larry flynt. >> wow. i wonder if that's the first time larry flynt's material has been used in a political ad. >> maybe. >> so what's true and not true in this. >> it's true these allegations have surrounded senator vitter and he did confess to some things but then it gets tricky because he never said precisely what his sin was. so he admitted that his number

was in the d.c. madam as phone book. he never admitted the new orleans connection. he was never charged with any crime. and so no crime was ever proven. so we don't really know if he broke the law and yet that message is hammered home by folks like this voter in this ad, whose identity is hidden supposedly to protect him, although i'm not sure from what. >> for me it's not about hookers or cheating on his wife. the man broke the law. and there ought to be consequences for that. >> well, there are consequences for things like that. have you to face nasty ads like this one, which for all of this drama still comes down on our big scale as somewhere between it's a stretch and right on. anderson? >> fascinating. coming up, another young man claims he was sexually coerced by bishop eddie long. randi kaye has the bulletin. >> reporter: anderson we're learning more about the man behind the plot to bomb times

square. prosecutors say faisal shahzad studied web cams of the area and hoped to kill up to 40 people and planned additional attacks. but his attempt to blow up a car failed. he plaefded guilty? june and will be sentenced next week. we've also learned over the summer the fbi recreated the car bo bomb and shows it would have devastated times square. and free medical coverage to 9/11 first responders. the senate has not yet taken up that bill. moments ago mike castle announced he has decided not to run as a candidate for u.s. senate. earlier he lost the gop primary to tea party favorite christine o'donnell. he hasn't endorsed her. she'll face democratic chris

coons. and jimmy carter is spending a second night at a cleveland, ohio, hospital. doctors say he's likely battling a viral infection. mr. carter turns 86, anderson, on friday. >> wow. all right. randi, appreciate that. coming up next, we're going to have a story that breaks your heart, but i want to give you a taste of a story we'll do for tomorrow night. a young man on death row in arkansas will ask for a new trial. he's one of the so-called west memphis three, one of those three teens convicted 16 years ago for the murder of three cub scouts. they were best friends beat are not and tortured prosecuted say in a satanic ritual. he says he did not do it and he's getting unexpected support from the parents of two of the victims. deborah feyerick gives us an advanced look. >> reporter: if i met you in may of 1993, how convinced would you have been of the guilt of the three teenagers? >> 100%. >> reporter: so now, do you

believe the three men in prison are guilty? >> no, ma'am. they're 100% innocent. we needed someone to hate to survive because our child was dead. >> reporter: we meet him at the super max prison, an hour's drive south of little rock. you were asked at the trial did you kill christopher buyers, your answer was then. >> no. absolutely not. >> reporter: your answer is. >> absolutely not. even though it's 20 years you don't get used to being asked that. it's the kind of thing that screws with your head for the rest of your life. >> we'll have deborah feyerick's full report tomorrow on 360. up next, the story that really just breaks your heart. a mom, stepfather and the little boy they lost to bullying. they say bullying that they warned the school about and got no action. later, how is michael j. fox doing nearly 20 years after being diagnosed with parkinson's? sanjay gupta sat down with him

and joins us shortly. and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email.

like medicare. this year, like always, we'll have our guaranteed benefits. and with the new healthcare law, more good things are coming: free check-ups, lower prescription costs, and better ways to protect us and medicare from fraud. see what else is new. i think you're gonna like it. ♪

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke.

you know, we focused a lot on this program over the years over the problem of bullying and how a lot of us today don't take it seriously enough. some adults think it's a rite of passage, something all kids go through. but while many kids do go through it, not all of them survive. i want to you meet asher brown. he lived in texas, he was 13 years old. when i say was in the past because he shot himself in the head last thursday. his stepfather found his little

body crumpled up in the bottom of a closet. they say he was bullied to death, he killed himself after being constantly harassed by classmates, picked on because he was small, because he didn't wear the popular clothes other kids wore and because he was gay. they say school officials ignored their repeated complaints. the school district denies getting any complaints from anyone, from asher's familiar, students or staff members. we talked to other parents who say their kids are also being bullied at the school and say their complaints are ignored. i talked earlier to asher's mom and stepfather, and they're advocate. amy, how are you holding up? >> i guess as well as can be expected for the situation. i just -- i have to do it minute by minute. >> that's all you can do. >> i can't think past -- i can't think past that. >> we've got a lot of support

but it's the worst thing that can ever happen to a mother. >> david, tell me about asher. what kind of boy was he? >> he was your typical rambunctious, spirited, happy-go-lucky guy. he was my shadow. everywhere i went he was behind me. i tell people if he burped he would say excuse me for me. it's hard for me to think about him without losing it but i'm going to do it. he's -- he's only been with me 3 1/2 years, and he's my stepson, but in spirit he's my -- he's my son. and i love him very much because he loved everybody else. what i got out of him, unconditional love. he gave everybody unconditional love. he taught me that. >> when did you notice things were going bad for him at school? >> we noticed the first day he started at hamilton, and there were some serious problems where he'd come home, tell us he's being picked on, and i said, well, that's not cool. tell your teacher that, and it

kept going on and on, where just from the very beginning. >> he started there in the sixth grade and this was supposed to be his eighth grade year. so there was an ongoing problem for what would amount to 18 months to two years. >> what would kids say? they taunted him because they felt he was gay and they taunted him because they felt he was different? >> they taunted him because he didn't wear abercrombie and fitch. he didn't wear fancy shoes. he didn't have fancy watches or ipods. >> he wasn't interested in those things. >> we could have bought it for him, we asked him if he wanted it, he said no. there's more important things. >> the boys and girls, they thought he was nerdy because he read lots of books. they picked on him and called him, you know, nasty names for -- the disparaging comments they use toward homosexuals. >> he was smaller than everybody. >> he was smaller than a lot of kids and, you know, so just

stature wise. >> and he was buddhist, i understand they made fun of that. >> yes. >> he told you he was gay the morning he died. >> right. he did. >> yes. >> and we had our suspicions. we kind of talked about it amongst us, but he came out and he was -- he was okay with it. >> how were you -- >> we -- we loved him and gave him unconditional support and we told him that months before when he started to express the fact that he thought he might be gay. we said, we love you no matter what, and we will always be here for you. >> did you think -- did you call the school, did you talk to teachers or anything? how did you try to deal with the bullying or did you think you could? >> well, first, i tried to raise him to be a good, responsible young man. i told him, deal with t talk to the bullies, get them to stop.

if they don't stop, tell the teachers. tell whoever's in charge. when that didn't help, then i got involved and amy got involved. we went to the schools. >> we made phone calls, e-mails. we made every attempt. >> numerous trips to the school. >> the school district is now saying they weren't aware that asher was having these problems in the school. and as you know, they put out this statement, i just want to read part of it, it says in their quest for an answer, they few will assign blame to try to make sense of the tragedy. prior to his death there was no reports from students, staff members or the parents. such report would have been investigated and consequences would have followed the student code of conduct. you say that's just not true. >> absolutely not true. >> not true. >> anderson. >> go ahead. >> i'll speak to that. i mean, when in doubt, the rule is with the school district, when in doubt, deny, deny, deny. >> we've heard from other parents who say there is bullying at this school. so i mean, it's not just you two

saying this. >> yes, sir, that's true. >> why do you think, amy, that the school district is now saying, look, we didn't know about it. >> because my son killed himself and he's gone and we can't bring him back and they realize what they did was wrong. they didn't take this seriously and nothing's going to bring him back and we have no reason to lie about the fact that we went to them for help to make it stop. >> amy, i mean, i can't imagine what it takes for you and david to be on here tonight. this is so recent, and i can't imagine the strength. and i want to thank you for it, because i mean it's important that we talk about this because we've got to stop this from happening to other kids. we've reported on this too many times. what do you want educators out there to know, amy? especially parents, if maybe

their child is being bullied or they don't know what to do? >> please, if you -- if you have children that you think may be bullied, if they seem sad or withdrawn and you ask questions and they say i'm fine, push past that. push past the "i'm fine." it's extremely important. these kids are worried about retribution for speaking up. not only speaking up for themselves, but speaking up for their friends that are getting picked on. and we've got to make this stop. i don't want my son to have died in vain and i can't bring my baby back. but if i can help some other family to not have to go through this, then it's worth it. >> i'm so sorry that we're here under these circumstances, and i really, i don't know what else to say except i thank you for your strength and thank you for

talking with us. >> thank you for having us. >> i hope you stay strong in the days and weeks and months ahead. >> just pray for us. >> god's with us. keep praying, though. for everybody involved. >> thank you. programming note, every night next week we're devoting time to the problem of bullying. i know a lot of adults think it's not so bad, but it's no longer in schools. it's online, and the taunts and terror accompany kids 24 hours a day. at the end of next week, we'll have a special hour of programming, we'll hear from parents, educators, kids who have been bullied. crystal bowersox will be on, it's our special all next week on "360." up next, up close with michael j. fox. sanjay gupta's interview. he's been living with parkinson's for two decades now, we'll talk about what his life is like today and hopes for the

future. and another of bishop eddie long's accusers speaks out. >> i'm not a perfect man, but this thing i'm going to fight. hi, i'm chanelle pickens. i was tired of living in my apartment. decided hey, let's go buy a house! i could go to quickenloans.com and sign all of the paper work i needed to take care of. and it didn't have to be between 9 and 5 -- which doesn't always work for me. the people at quicken loans really care. it was nice to being able to call them whenever i needed to answer questions. they were on it. they were on top of everything. quicken loans made everything super convenient and easy. so the fact that they could work with my schedule was just wonderful. that's why i love quicken loans! ♪

that's why i love quicken loans! in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand

and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. colace capsules stool softener helps ease straining to make going easier. try colace capsules for effective comfortable relief from occasional constipation. find the relief that's right for you and get a $10 rebate at getconstipationrelief.com.

michael j. fox doesn't give a lot of interviews, but he just spoke with our dr. sanjay gupta, he's been living with parkinson's disease for two decades now. he was 29 when he first noticed the symptoms and was diagnosed the following year. today michael still acts but he devotes a lot of time to his charity to find a cure. watch the interview tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern, but here's some of it tonight. >> there was a real clear period around 1993, '94, about two years after the diagnosis where i just got t i just accepted it. and i realized that there's an old saying that my happiness grows in proportion to my acceptance and inverse to my expectation. it is what it is, and so now what? >> so once you were not in denial you think you were

happier? >> yeah, absolutely. because when you can look at truth of something, then -- then i mean, that's what it is. it is what it is. now you have options. the only thing i don't have a choice about is whether or not i have parkinson's. everything else is my choice. that's incredibly liberating. that's more liberating than the physical constraints of this disease are limiting. >> reporter: are the things that you particularly miss that you can't do? things you say, god, i really just wish i could do this, still. >> no. i do everything i did before. i play hockey, i play golf, i play guitar, i hang out with my kids. if it seriously limited or restricted or aversely affected my ability to interact with my kids that would be something that would be hard to deal with. i go back to my reasons for starting this foundation. if you -- i use this analogy a

lot but i think it's really apt. if you step off a curb and get hit by a bus, the impact on your life is immediate and catastrophic and you have no options. you just -- if -- with parkinson's, you're crossing the road and you get stuck in the middle and you know the bus is coming and you can't get out of the way. so you can kind of freak out and you kind of go with it, the bus is going to hit me at some point, even though you don't know how fast or how big or whatever, but you can be stuck in that result. this bus is going to hit you. or you can use the time you have before the bus gets there to try to change the route. and that's what we try to do. methodically and with a degree of urgency, try to connect the dots and get this done. >> such a great guy. he's had this 20 years.

he's had brain surgery to try to treat it. what other options are there? >> so he had brain surgery on the right side of the brain which troms the left side of his body and he said he got a really good result at the time. but quickly after that the right side of his body started to get affected. one option would be to do the operation on the other side and i asked him about that. he said he's just not quite ready to have that done yet. he wants the surgery to guarantee a little bit more than what it does right now, just taking care of symptoms. he gets good results with the meds. he has the movement that you saw him sitting there doing, but that's actually as a result of being medicated as opposed to the medication not working. so the medications are working for him. he doesn't get really slow of movement, he doesn't get the terrible tremor or the expressionless face. >> you're saying when he sleeps and does something like play the guitar or skates he doesn't have the symptoms. >> yeah. so really rote activities, things he's done for a long time, playing the guitar, ice-skating, at sleep most people with parkinson's disease do not have the tremor because

you're not active vating movement and the brakes are sort of turned on in terms of the tremor. but when he wakes up it immediately comes back. he has to put on special shoes, the whole thing. >> he's incredibly strong. the full report is on with sanjay tomorrow. can you see it tomorrow night, dr. sanjay gupta reports, a conversation with michael j. fox, 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. coming up, another accuser speaking out against bishop eddie long. the fourth man to come forward. also tonight what happens when the republican candidate for governor of new york took exception to one of the reporters covering him. here's a taste of it. >> of course you'll get it at the appropriate time. at at appropriate time you'll get it. >> reporter: you're the attorney general of new york. how'd you do that? do what? it tastes too good to be fiber. you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. do it again. turn it into something tasty. this guy's doing magic. there's chocolate chips in here now.

how'd you do that? right! tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. what's she thinking? that's right! i'm not thinking anything! [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars. cardboard no. delicious yes. promising 25,000 miles a flight only to be told... there's nothing for 25. but they will let me give you the same seat for a big miles upcharge. how's that sound? for that many miles we'll be stuck taking a "staycation." [ imitates engine revving ] [ angie ] i'm through playing games. i switched to the venture card from capital one. vacation, here we come! [ male announcer ] don't pay miles upcharges. don't play games. get the flight you want with the venture card at capitalone.com. whoo-hoo! now this is a vacation. what's in your wallet?

i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn.

another accuser of bishop eddie long speaking out tonight, one of four young men who has accused the pastor of sexual coercion. all four are suing. the bishop plans to, quote, vigorously fight the charges. last night we played you excerpts that a georgia news station did with jamal parris, one of the men suing. now another man has gone on camera. he doesn't talk about the specific charges, he told the reporters he has a lawyer that

told him not to, but he did say this. >> once the time is right to expose everything, it's going to happen. i just pray -- i want people to know, keep praying. keep praying for our strength and you us getting through this. i pray for everyone. especially bishop. especially bishop. because he knows the truth. he knows the truth. i pray for him, too. i really do. i wasn't free until i came out with it. that's when my life has been much better. this last week has been free. this is a hard time for the world and, you know, i have no hate for anyone because that's not -- god doesn't produce hate. there's only one way to god and that's the truth. >> bishop long's lawyer fired back, following a number of other stories, randi kaye again has the business news and

bulletin. >> reporter: a heated exchange between karl paladino, the republican candidate for governor in new york and a reporter for the "new york post" was caught on tape. take a look at this video from affiliate ynn albany. >> hey, guys, easy. >> come on. >> take it easy. don't touch me. >> here's what happened there. fred dicker of the post asked paladino to back up claims that andrew cuomo had extramarital affairs when he was still married but paladino turned on dicker slamming a daughter he had out of wedlock. johnson & johnson starts shipping back to retailers. the drugs were recalled because of possible contamination from bacteria and small metal parts. bp says it will create a new

safety division in the aftermath of this summer's gulf oil spill disaster. the company says the unit will have sweeping powers to oversee and audit operations around the world. and some serious monkey business, when the commonwealth games begin next month in new delhi, india, officials will use 38 trained and large langer monkeys to chase stray monkeys away from the games. stray monkeys are common all over new delhi. they just don't want them to get in the way. >> wow. employment for large monkeys there. good news for them, i guess. >> there you go. >> tonight's shot is a major case of, i guess, awkwardness on live television. here's the scene. it was a live reality tv show, australia's next top model. the winner had just been crowned, a young woman kelscy in a black dress. the runner up, amanda, is in the red dress. remember, this happened live.

>> it's you, kelscy. >> i'm so sorry. oh, my god. oh, i'm -- >> i don't know what to say. this is not -- this was a complete accident. i'm so sorry. it's amanda. i'm so sorry. it was read to me wrong. >> that's all right. >> it's okay. >> oh, god. >> it's okay. >> this is what happens when you have live tv folks. i'm so sorry. >> it's okay. >> this is insane. >> the studio audience was stunned. kelsey, the runner up, was gracious enough to help the host not feel so embarrassed. live tv. it's tough. >> i know, they say that's what's happened on live tv. i've never seen it before. she didnd had ale it well. >> she did handle it well, though. i'll ask the michigan

attorney again why this man still has a job, keeping them honest, still ahead. and all my investments, but it's not something that i want to do completely on my own -- i like to discuss my ideas with someone. that's what i like about fidelity. they talked with me one on one, so we could come up with a plan that's right for me, and they worked with me to help me stay on track -- or sometimes, help me get on an even better one. woman: there you go, brian. thanks, guys. man: see ya. fidelity investments. turn here.

that was the moment of truth. medicare by itself doesn't cover everything. i don't want to spend my life worrying about what would happen if one of us got sick. [ male announcer ] now more than ever, you may be wondering: do i have the right medicare coverage? talk to the health plan experts at securehorizons to get the answers you need. [ woman ] life's too short to worry about health care. i hate to worry.

[ male announcer ] in these changing times, the name on your medicare health plan may be more important than ever. choose a company you can depend on. call now.

tonight keeping them honest, the law enforcement official, an assistant attorney general targeting a college student in his spare time, singling out for a campaign of vitriol and online attacks. why hasn't his boss fired him? we'll put that question to his boss, the attorney general of michigan. and a campaign ad re-enacting a senator's alleged visit with a prostitute. is it fair? is it true? and later a rare sitdown

with michael j. fox, his battle with parkinson's, what his days look like and what the future looks like in the battle against this killer disease. we begin keeping them honest, new developments in one of the oddest stories we have reported on in a long, long time. new calls tonight for an assistant attorney general of michigan to be fired. in a moment we're going to talk with his boss, the attorney general of michigan, to find out if he will be. let's first get you up to speed. the man we're talking about is andrew shirvell, assistant attorney general of michigan. for months in his private time he's been fixated on a young gay college student named chris armstrong. that's mr. armstrong. he's the first openly gay student body president at the university of michigan. so why does andrew shirvell care about chris armstrong? that's a very good question. and to be honest i'm not really sure. but he does care an awful lot about this student who he says has a radical homosexual agenda. shirvell has created a blog

attacking mr. armstrong. this posting has a picture of armstrong, the word "resign" scrawled on his face, a rainbow flag with a swastika right in the center of it. months of postings like this, by mr. shirvell, page after page, unproven allegations, smears. he calls the college student a nazi-like recruiter for the cult that is homosexuality, he calls him a privileged pervert and satan's representative on the student assembly. that's a quote. in addition, shirvell has shouted down armstrong in public and has appeared outside armstrong's home, videotaping the home at night. mr. shirvell says he's got the right to speak his mind. the question is, though, by targeting this student and his friends, has this public official gone too far? you can judge for yourself. we had him on the program last night. here's some of what he said. >> i've got to ask you, you're a state official. this is a college student. what are you doing? >> well, anderson, basically if you've been involved in

political campaigns before, you know all sorts of stuff happens. and this is just another tactic bringing awareness to what chris really stands for. >> this is not some national figure, this is a guy who's running a student council. >> well, anderson, as a private citizen and as a university of michigan alum, i care, because this is my university. and i wasn't the only first person to criticize chris. in fact, long before i started the blog a couple of weeks before that, the alliance defense fund, a well-known legal christian foundation, put out an alert about chris. so i'm not the only person that has criticized chris, and i'm not the first person to criticize chris. >> but are you the only person running this blog, which is putting nazi swastikas on this guy. you're a grown adult. does that seem appropriate to you? >> like i said, this is a political campaign. this is nothing personal against chris.

i don't know chris -- >> what do you mean it's nothing personal? you're outside his house, you're videotaping his house, you're shouting him down at public events, you're calling him satan's representative on the student council, you're attacking his parents, his friends' parents, i mean you can't say it's not personal. >> well, chris and any political campaign, you have to raise awareness and issues, and that's one way of doing it is by protesting. >> so that was some of our conversation last night. i should point out mr. shirvell is not involved in a political campaign, not running for anything, nor is mr. armstrong. he's already elected student body president. here's more from the interview last night. >> it appears you're obsessed with this young gay man. i've read all your blog postings. you're like perusing his facebook, his friends' facebook pages, you're making completely unwarranted accusations, unproven accusations, based on what you're gleaning from his facebook pages. >> excuse me, anderson, who said they were unwarranted and not true?

chris has never come out and denied anything. there's a reason why he isn't giving interviews and that's because he can't defend what's on the blog. i stand by what's on the blog, i've gotten stuff from other -- >> you stand by that he's satan's representative on the student council? you stand by that? >> well, excuse me, anderson, that isn't on the blog, that's taken from another posting somewhere on the internet i may have put out -- >> so you don't stand by that? >> that's my opinion, i do stand by that. >> okay, you stand by it. >> today the democrat running to replace michigan's departing attorney general, his boss, cited that interview and is now calling his republican opponent to join him in demanding that shirvell be fired. earlier this evening i spoke with a man who would do the firing but for now says he won't. i spoke to michigan attorney general mike cox. we've received a ton of e-mail from people asking us why andrew shirvell still has a job as assistant attorney general in your office.

and free speech is critical, but he appears to be targeting a college student. i know you've said this guy's views don't reflect your views or those of your office, but why is he still employed? >> well, for a number of reasons. here in america we have this thing called the first amendment, which allows people to express what they think, and engage in political and social speech. and more on point, the supreme court, both the united states supreme court in 1995 in a case called the u.s. versus treasury employees said that civil service employees in the federal system and by extension in the state system, have free -- first amendment rights outside of the work as long as it doesn't impact their performance at their job. and mr. shirvell is sort of a front line brunt assistant prosecutor in my office. he does satisfactory work.

and off hours he's free to engage under our civil service rules, michigan supreme court rulings and the united states supreme court rule. interestingly enough by justice stevens wrote the opinion to engage in free speech. >> aren't you empowered by the state civil rules to discipline him for conduct unbecoming of a state employee? do you think his actions are unbecoming of a state employee? >> his actions are offensive. but you know, conduct unbecoming is one of those empty vessel statements. what it mean has never really been fleshed out. >> do you think this is unbecoming? >> certainly it's unbecoming of civil discourse, it's unbecoming of common courtesy, and quite frankly, i feel embarrassed for mr. armstrong, you know, that he has this unwanted attention. but again, anderson, this is speech put on a blog.

now, if there's conduct that's verified -- for instance, if a personal protection order was sought by mr. armstrong and granted in the michigan civil service or disciplinary code we could start looking at things in terms of perhaps sending to an employee assistance program. >> so if there was a restraining order or something filed or there was a lawsuit by mr. armstrong against mr. shirvell you might look at this differently or that might change your ability to do something. >> absolutely. you know, it's -- there's a spectrum between pure speech and actual physical actions. now, clearly if he was stalking him and violating the criminal law, action could be taken against him. >> but i was reading this supreme court case, and the court said, and i quote, government agencies are charged by law with doing particular tasks.

agencies hire employees to help do those tasks as effectively and efficiently as possible. when someone is paid a salary so she will contribute to the agency's operation begins to do or say things that detract from the agency's effective operation, the government employer must have power to restrain her. isn't shirvell detracting from your operation? why would a gay person feel confident that he or she would be represented by this man as an attorney or frankly, you know, they would start to have perhaps doubt about your office's ability to do that. >> well, i think that's quite a stretch. first and foremost, mr. shirvell, his job is he helps preserve state criminal convictions when they're challenged in federal court. he does that well from 8:30 to 5:00 very well. him blogging, it's not impacting the mission of the office. >> you've made internet safety one of the main initiatives of your department. >> right. >> we found this pamphlet that the state of michigan issues

defining a cyberbully, someone that uses technology to harass, embarrass or stalk someone else, and includes sending vulgar, argue meant tive messages, cruel, offensive and insulting remarks. under that definition, is andrew shirvell a cyberbully? >> well, that's a pamphlet by a different agency and i'm glad you brought it. we've educated a half million kids on how to protect themselves from predators and also bullies on the internet. now, that being said, there isn't a crime of cyberbullying in michigan law. and the reality is -- >> i'm not asking whether it's a crime or not, i know in michigan there is no cyberbullying law yet, but do you think he is a cyberbully? >> he's clearly a bully. absolutely. is he using the internet to be a bully? yes. but is that protected under the first amendment of the united states constitution? yes. >> jeffrey toobin last night on this program, cnn legal analyst,

said that this is more about you than about shirvell. and he said that shirvell is a political ally of yours who worked on your campaign and that, you know, you campaigned on family values and weren't very supportive of, you know, gay rights, and to fire him would be politically difficult for you and that plays a part in the story. i wanted you to be able to respond to that. >> well, you know, mr. toobin reminds me of the old joke, i'm not a lawyer but i play one on tv. because he clearly didn't read any of the supreme court case that i cited for it. >> he's a former federal prosecutor but you're saying politics has nothing to do with it? >> that doesn't mean anything, anderson. he's not in the ring every day practicing law. he's spending time on cnn. and it's a pretty good gig, i wish i had it. but the reality is i'm out of office in three months. i have a duty to defend the michigan constitution. i have a duty to defend the michigan civil service rules. even at those times when i don't like it.

i mean, part of my job as attorney general is to stand up and defend the first amendment, even when that protects offensive people and people who are saying things i don't like. >> attorney general mike cox, i appreciate you being on. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. so the question for us to consider is is this a free speech issue or should a public official be held to a different standard? let's bring in senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin and george washington university law professor jonathan turley. jeff, first, i want to give you an opportunity to respond to what the attorney general said, either the personal part or about his legal argument. >> i'm sorry he's not a fan, but the point is the united states supreme court has dealt with this issue in many different ways over many years. the public employee, the free speech rights of public employees is a longstanding subject before the supreme court. the most recent case, 2006, involves a deputy district attorney in los angeles who was fired and the supreme court upheld his firing.

it's not an identical case but if you look at the range of these cases, clearly the direction the court is moving is towards less and less free speech protection for stuff that is a heck of a lot less offensive than the stuff -- >> let me challenge you on that a little bit because i'm certainly not a lawyer, but what i've just read from the supreme court is if the public official is talking about something of public concern, which i guess you could argue, you know, this guy's political beliefs are a public concern, he's sort of a public official maybe because he's on a student council, he ran for student council president, is it therefore protected because it's sort of in the general public concern. >> that's right. that's -- it's what the supreme court folks would call a two-part test. the first part of the test is, is it a matter of public concern? and i think you could definitely say that what shirvell was talking about, gay rights, is a matter of public concern. but there's a second part of the test which is, does it interfere with his work. and as you pointed out in your

interview with mike cox, how would you feel sitting there as a gay person or someone who respects gay rights, which includes a lot of people who aren't gay, and see this guy representing the state of michigan? because he's not a private lawyer. he is up there representing the entire state of michigan. and i think many people in the employer position, in mike cox's position, would say of course he can't represent the state of michigan because people who express those kind of hateful sentiments are not representative of my office or of the state. >> professor turley, what do you make of this? you're a big defender of the first amendment. >> well, first of all, i think that jeff is right about the trend that there certainly is more and more upheld restrictions on the free speech of public employees. on my blog i've actually detailed a lot of these cases involving police officers, teachers, a great variety of public employees. in fairness to mr. cox, there is

a legitimate free speech issue here. that trend has been denounced by many people, including myself, that public employees should be allowed in their private time to espouse their views, to have -- there's many of these cases where the actual employee has an alternative lifestyle that is viewed as unpopular or unacceptable and are disciplined for that. what makes this case i think a much closer issue even for free speech advocates is that have you an assistant attorney general saying i'm doing a political campaign. but the campaign's not even an anti-homosexual campaign, it's more of a campaign against this individual. and where he crossed the line, seems to be when he stands outside the person's house. that comes very, very close to stalking. there could be civil liability here. and i think that that moves this away from free speech into conduct. and that does -- that is a legitimate basis for discipline. >> we just put up a picture at

another event, not from outside his house, but on shirvell's blog there's videotape he took at fight outside shirvell's home. so that's not a picture outside shirvell's home, as i know, but there's video from outside the home on the blog. >> the issue here, particularly for free speech advocates, they don't particularly like this trend, that jeff has correctly i think articulated. it's a trend that is cracking down on free speech and denying public employees the opportunity to have the full range of free speech. this case i think is a bit of an anomaly because you have someone who's going out there and leading a campaign that's quite hateful and quite unhinged. >> it's also not just against this college student, it's against his friends tracking his friends' facebook comments and going after the guy's father and a mother of a friend of his. i mean, it seems rather obsessive. >> i think it is.

i mean, this is what -- i think many of us have had a sense of pause when we saw that interview. and you wouldn't call him a barking lunatic but he certainly comes across as somebody who is obsessive. and that's not healthy for the institution that he represents, or for the individual that he is. but i do think that he may have crossed the line here. i think the only reservation i would put here is that what mr. cox articulated, whatever his motivations may be, and i'm willing to accept his motivations are to defend free speech, there is a legitimate question here. there is a dangerous trend here. and unfortunately this may be a case of bad case making bad law, in that it could magnify that trend a bit. but he's going to -- his conduct makes it more difficult for him to cloak himself entirely in the first amendment. >> jeff, this is now getting wrapped up in politics in michigan, the democratic candidate to be the next assistant -- to be the next attorney general has called on his republican opponent to call

for this guy to be fired. do you think -- you still think politics are involved, though, in the attorney general's decision not to let this guy go? >> right, because i think at the end of the day this is really a question about discretion. this is a question that's -- that raises the issue of, what does the attorney general of michigan think is relevant to the conduct of his employees? is he someone who thinks that someone who behaves like shirvell is behaving can represent everyone. and you know, i think if shirvell got fired he would lose a lawsuit. now that may be a good thing or a bad thing but he would lose a lawsuit to get his job back. so i think this is really up to mike cox. could he, is he willing to fire him or not, and he chooses not to fire him and people can draw their own conclusions about whether that's a good thing or bad thing. the thing i don't object to that mike cox is saying is that somehow the law compels him not to fire him. i think this is a choice he's making, not a -- something he's

compelled to do by the law. >> interesting discussion. jeff toobin, jonathan turley, appreciate your expertise. thank you very much. let us know what you think, the live chat up and running right now. up next tonight we put a racy attack ad to the test. is the re-enactment of a senator's alleged visit to a prostitute fact or fiction? is it fair? and another accuser speaking out saying bishop eddie long abused him. >> once the right time to expose everything it's going to happen, and i just pray, i just want people to know to keep praying. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

earlier, she had an all-over, achy cold. what's her advantage? it's speedy alka-seltzer. alka-seltzer plus. rushes relief for all-over, achy colds. the official cold medicine of the u.s. ski team. alka-seltzer plus. the craftsman hammerhead goes everyday. driving home nails quickly and easily in the tightest spaces. more innovation, more great values. craftsman. trust. in your hands.

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke.

we've been examining some of the political ads running this campaign season. the other night you might remember we pointed out what was incorrect and misleading one by a florida democratic congressman, one by a republican congressman from north carolina. tonight a whole new kind of attack ad. this one is by charlie melancon, it's against david vitter and it actually includes a re-enactment of an alleged visit with a prostitute. tom foreman has been looking at it perhaps in a dark room somewhere and joins us now keeping them honest. >> reporter: when a candidate says his latest commercial will air only during age appropriate shows, you know you're in for something special, and charlie melancon does not disappoint with his attack on republican senator david vitter. maybe you forgot vitter was caught up in a prostitution scandal or that he stood by his wife in this very uncomfortable news conference in 2007 and apologized for a very serious sin. but representative melancon

wants to make sure you remember. this time on forgotten crimes, caught up with prostitution scandals in washington, d.c., and new orleans, a louisiana politician has been let off the hook. today we explore the case of the senator and the madam in lawmaker, law breaker. >> reporter: this is a rarity in political ads. not only is it dressed up to look like one of these true crime shows out there but it's also two minutes long. complete, anderson, as you mentioned, with a re-enactment. take a look. >> david vitter won election to the united states senate as a proud family values politician. but under the surface, vitter was battling his own demons. >> things turned public for vitter when his number appeared on the d.c. madams phone list. >> but it didn't end there. the scene shifts to new orleans where a former french quarter prostitute gave an interview exposing details about her sexual relationship with vitter.

>> he went in, took a shower, spoke very little to me at first. he did his thing. he wasn't there, 15, 20 minutes at that. it was $300. >> this is a political ad. the interview and some of those images, by the way, at the end there appear to be by a production from hustler magazine's larry flynt. >> wow. i wonder if that's the first time larry flynt's material has been used in a political ad. >> maybe. >> so what's true and not true in this. >> it's true these allegations have surrounded senator vitter and he did confess to some things but then it gets tricky because he never said precisely what his sin was. so he admitted that his number was in the d.c. pad am's phone book. he never admitted the new orleans connection. he was never charged with any crime. and so no crime was ever proven. so we don't really know if he broke the law and yet that message is hammered home by folks like this voter in this ad, whose identity is hidden supposedly to protect him,

although i'm not sure from what. >> for me it's not about hookers or cheating on his wife. the man broke the law. and there ought to be consequences for that. >> well, there are consequences for things like that. have you to face nasty ads like this one, which for all of this drama still comes down on our big scale as somewhere between it's a stretch and right on. anderson? >> fascinating. coming up a story that really just breaks your heart. a mom and a stepfather and the little boy they lost to bullying. they say bullying that they warned the school about and got no action. later, how is michael j. fox doing nearly 20 years after being diagnosed with parkinson's sanjay gupta sat down with him and joins us shortly.

you know, we focused a lot on this program over the years on the problem of bullying and how a lot of us today don't take it seriously enough. some adults think it's a rite of passage, something all kids go through. but while many kids do go through it, not all of them survive. i want to you meet asher brown. he lived in texas, he was 13 years old. and i say "was" in the past because he shot himself in the head last thursday. his stepfather found his little body crumpled up in the bottom of a closet. they say he was bullied to death, he killed himself after being constantly harassed by four classmates, picked on they say because he was small, because he didn't wear the

popular clothes other kids wore and because he was gay. they say school officials ignored their repeated complaints. the school district denies getting any complaints from anyone, from asher's family, students or staff members. we talked to other parents who say their kids are also being bullied at the school and say their complaints are ignored. i talked earlier to asher's mom and stepfather, and they're advocate. amy, how are you holding up? >> i guess as well as can be expected for the situation. i just -- i have to do it minute by minute. >> that's all you can do. >> i can't think past -- i can't think past that. >> we've got a lot of support but it's the worst thing that can ever happen to a mother. >> david, tell me about asher. what kind of boy was he? >> he was your typical rambunctious, spirited, happy-go-lucky guy. he was my shadow. everywhere i went he was behind

me. i tell people if he burped he would say excuse me for me. it's hard for me to think about him without losing it but i'm going to do it. he's -- he's only been with me 3 1/2 years, and he's my stepson, but in spirit he's my -- he's my son. and i love him very much because he loved everybody else. what i got out of him, unconditional love. he gave everybody unconditional love. he taught me that. >> when did you notice things were going bad for him at school? >> we noticed the first day he started at hamilton, and there were some serious problems where he'd come home, tell us he's being picked on, and i said, well, that's not cool. you've got to tell your teacher that, and it just kept going on and on, where just -- from the very beginning. >> he started there in the sixth grade and this was supposed to be his eighth grade year. so there was an ongoing problem for what would amount to 18 months to two years.

>> what would kids say? they taunted him because they felt he was gay and they taunted him because they felt he was different? >> they taunted him because he didn't wear abercrombie and fitch. he didn't wear fancy shoes. he didn't have fancy watches or ipods. >> he wasn't interested in those things. >> we could have bought it for him, we asked him if he wanted it, he said no. there's more important things. >> the boys and girls, they thought he was nerdy because he read lots of books. they picked on him and called him, you know, nasty names for -- the disparaging comments they use toward homosexuals. >> he was smaller than everybody. >> he was smaller than a lot of kids and, you know, so just stature wise he stood out. >> and he was buddhist, i understand they made fun of that. >> yes. >> he told you he was gay the

morning he died. >> right. he did. >> yes. >> and we had our suspicions. we kind of talked about it amongst us, but he came out and he was -- he was okay with it. >> how were you with it? >> we -- we loved him and gave him unconditional support and we told him that months before when he started to express the fact that he thought he might be gay. we said, we love you no matter what, and we will always be here for you. >> did you think -- did you call the school, did you talk to teachers or anything? how did you try to deal with the bullying or did you think you could? >> well, first, i tried to raise him to be a good, responsible young man. i told him, deal with it. talk to the bullies, get them to stop. if they don't stop, tell the teachers. tell whoever's in charge. when that didn't help, then i got involved and amy got involved. we went to the schools. >> we made phone calls, e-mails.

we made every attempt. >> numerous trips to the school. >> the school district is now saying they weren't aware that asher was having these problems in the school. and as you know, they put out this statement, i just want to read part of it, it says in their quest for an answer, they few will assign blame to try to make sense of the tragedy. prior to his death there was no reports from students, staff members or the parents to administrators. such report would have been investigated and consequences would have followed the student code of conduct. you say that's just not true. >> absolutely not true. >> not true. >> anderson. >> go ahead. >> i'll speak to that. i mean, when in doubt, the rule is with the school district, when in doubt, deny, deny, deny. >> we've heard from other parents who say there is bullying at this school. so i mean, it's not just you two saying this. >> yes, sir, that's true. >> why do you think, amy, that the school district is now saying, look, we didn't know about it? >> because my son killed himself

and he's gone, and we can't bring him back, and they realize what they did was wrong. they didn't take this seriously and nothing's going to bring him back and we have no reason to lie about the fact that we went to them for help to make it stop. >> amy, i mean, i can't imagine what it takes for you and david to be on here tonight. this is so recent, and i can't imagine the strength. and i want to thank you for it, because i mean it's important that we talk about this because we've got to stop this from happening to other kids. we've reported on this too many times. what do you want educators out there to know, amy? especially parents, if maybe their child is being bullied or they don't know what to do? >> please, if you -- if you have children that you think may be bullied, if they seem sad or

withdrawn and you ask questions and they say, "i'm fine," push past that. push past the "i'm fine." it's extremely important. these kids are worried about retribution for speaking up. not only speaking up for themselves, but speaking up for their friends that are getting picked on. and we've got to make this stop. i don't want my son to have died in vain and i can't bring my baby back. but if i can help some other family to not have to go through this, then it's worth it. >> i'm so sorry that we're here under these circumstances, and i really, i don't know what else to say except i thank you for your strength and thank you for talking with us. >> thank you for having us. >> i hope you stay strong in the days and weeks and months ahead. >> just pray for us. >> god's with us. keep praying, though. for everybody involved.

>> thank you. still ahead tonight, up close with actor michael j. fox. sanjay gupta's in depth interview. fox has been living with parkinson's for nearly two decades now. find out what his life is like now and his hopes for the future. and another of bishop eddie long's accusers speaking out publicly. >> i am not a perfect man. but this thing, i'm going to fight. of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪ it is. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food.

i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. i just wish that all of the important information

was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com. the power and versatility of six tools packed into one. more innovation. more great values. craftsman.

earlier, she had an all-over, achy cold. what's her advantage? it's speedy alka-seltzer. alka-seltzer plus. rushes relief for all-over, achy colds. the official cold medicine of the u.s. ski team. alka-seltzer plus.

michael j. fox doesn't give a lot of interviews, but he just spoke with our dr. sanjay gupta, he's been living with parkinson's disease for two decades now. he was 29 when he first noticed the symptoms and was diagnosed the following year. today michael still acts but he devotes a lot of time to his charity he created to find a cure. you can see the entire interview tomorrow on cnn at 8:00 p.m. eastern. but here's some of it tonight in our "up close" segment. >> there was a real clear period around 1993, '94, about two years after the diagnosis where i just got it. i just accepted it. and i realized that there's an old saying that my happiness grows in proportion to my acceptance and in inverse proportion to my expectation. it is what it is, and so now what? >> so once you were not in denial you think you were happier?

>> yeah, absolutely. because when you can look at truth of something, then -- then i mean, that's what it is. it is what it is. now you have options. the only thing i don't have a choice about is whether or not i have parkinson's. everything else is my choice. that's incredibly liberating. that's more liberating than the physical constraints of this disease are limiting. >> reporter: are there things that you particularly miss that you can't do? things you say, god, i really just wish i could do this, still. >> no. i do everything i did before. i play hockey, i play golf, i play guitar, i hang out with my kids. if it seriously limited or restrict the restricted or aversely affected my ability to interact with my kids that would be something

that would be hard to deal with. i go back to my reasons for starting this foundation. if you -- i use this analogy a lot but i think it's really apt. if you step off a curb and get hit by a bus, the impact on your life is immediate and catastrophic and you have no options. you just, are the effect of whatever happens there. with parkinson's, it's like you're crossing the road and you get stuck in the middle. and you know the bus is coming and you can't get out of the way. so you can kind of freak out and you kind of go with it, the bus is going to hit me at some point, even though you don't know how fast or how big or whatever, but you can be stuck in that result. this bus is going to hit you. or you can use the time you have before the bus gets there to try to change the route. and that's what we try to do. methodically but with a degree of urgency, try to connect the dots and get this done. >> such a great guy. he's had this 20 years.

he's had brain surgery to try to treat it. what other options are there? >> so he had brain surgery on the right side of the brain which controls the left side of his body and he said he got a really good result at the time. but quickly after that the right side of his body started to get affected. one option would be to do the operation on the other side and i asked him about that. he said he's just not quite ready to have that done yet. he wants the surgery to guarantee a little bit more than what it does right now, just taking care of symptoms. he gets good results with the meds. he has the movement that you saw him sitting there doing, but that's actually as a result of being medicated as opposed to the medication not working. so the medications are working for him. he doesn't get really slow of movement, he doesn't get the terrible tremor or the expressionless face. >> you're saying when he sleeps and does something like play the guitar or skates he doesn't have the symptoms. >> yeah. so really rote activities, things he's done for a long time, playing the guitar, ice-skating, at sleep most people with parkinson's disease do not have the tremor because

you're not activating movement and the brakes are sort of turned on in terms of the tremor. but when he wakes up it immediately comes back. he has to put on special shoes, the whole thing. >> he's incredibly strong. the full report is on with sanjay tomorrow. can you see it tomorrow night, dr. sanjay gupta reports, "a conversation with michael j. fox," 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. up next, sick of high electricity bills? we'll show you one simple thing you can do to go green and have an energy-saving home. one that will save you a lot of money in the long run. and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. during truck month, use your all-star edition discount for a total value of five thousand dollars on silverado. see your local chevrolet dealer.

♪♪ check the news online weather, check the time ♪ ♪heck the wife, eck the kids ♪ ♪ check your email messages ♪ check the money in the bank ♪ check the gas in the tank ♪ check the flava from your shirt ♪ ♪ make sure your pits don't stank ♪ ♪ check the new hairdo, check the mic one two ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm about to drop some knowledge right on top of you ♪ ♪ you check a lot of things already why not add one more ♪ ♪ that can help your situation for sure ♪ ♪ check your credit score ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ free-credit-score ♪ you won't regret it at all! ♪ check the legal y'all. >>offer applies with enrollment in triple advantage.® in 2008 i quit venture capital

to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email.

. . . .

. >> reporter: it's the holy grail of green living, a net zero house. net zero means we're producing more energy in this house than we are using. >> reporter: that's the foothills of the rocky mountains, he's turned his home from a power user into a power producer. >> the houses most of us live in, work in and learn and play in are about as efficient as hummers. they're just big, huge, energy sucks that waste a lost energy. >> reporter: so how did he convert his house from a hummer to a prius? >> the first thing we did is get a caulk gun out and we just started caulking all the air leaks. >> reporter: next came windows arks appliances and other changes.

>> this is a solar clothes drier. put our clothes on it in the sun, dries stuff. >> reporter: it's no joke. those simple measures alone cut his energy usage by 80%. >> it's not very sexy, it's not very fun and it's very easy to make fun of. but it makes a huge difference. >> reporter: but to get to net zero he needed his house to start making energy. >> yeah, this is solar panels, a lot more sexy than installation. >> solar panels create electricity, so far, he says it's working. >> so this is our electrical meter. the meter was gone backwards. >> a few miles away in boulder, colorado, david johnston has been chasing the net zero dream for 30 years. he's a green building consultant and wrote the book toward a zero energy home. >> it's really a function of good design and great materials. that's the key. >> he estimates there are only about 100 net zero homes in america. the new building material kpz technologies, plus growing demand from homeowners will make

the net zero dream widely acceptable. he says after tapping into several government incentives and rebates he spent about $50,000 getting to net zero. he hopes to break even in eight years. >> electricity and gas, it's becoming less and less cheap, so i think we're paying attention. >> reporter: one simple thing that starts at home. use less energy than you make, and make a difference. jim spelman, cnn. [ male announcer ] even before science was science, fire was fire. and the first language, the language of chemistry, was universal and eloquent. and the unique ability of chemistry to change everything has never changed. it is still the hope of human history to come. it is still the bond in partial

between the elements. hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and human. [ male announcer ] at ge capital, we're out there every day with clients like jetblue -- financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not. yes, it was. what do you think? take one of the big ones out? nah.

this is why we do this! freedom! the open road! no doubt! and progressive has great coverage and policies starting at just $95 a year. i dig that! most bikers do -- that's why progressive is number one! whoo! whoo! let's renew up. yeah, that sounds good, man. do i have any bugs in my teeth? no, you're good. number one in motorcycle insurance. now, that's progressive.